The event was very timely ... the apartheid era in South Africa would not have ended without amazing efforts of many, many people ... at considerable cost, but very much worth it. People forget very quickly how much sacrifice there had to be over a very long time to win this battle ... and we should NOT forget!

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Friday, 16 July 2010 15:40New York Center For Conflict Dialogue Celebrates Mandela Day with new documentary on Anti-Apartheid Divestment Movement
Written by Obi Ogadi

The New York Center For Conflict Dialogue, together with the American Friends Services ommittee, Street Corner Resources Inc. in Harlem and the Harlem Clergy and Community Leaders Coalition with campaign support from Active Voice, Clarity Films and major funding from the Ford Foundation, will host an exclusive screening of Have You Heard from Johannesburg: Bottom Line at The Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Building 163 W 125th Street, 8th Floor on Friday, July 16, 2010 at 5:30pm.

Vincent Booys- A South African Activist whose nephew was killed by a stray bullet in the 1976 uprising during the apartheid era.

The Panel Discussion will be moderated by Spencer Chiimbwe - Coordinating Chairman, New York Center For Conflict Dialogue.

The film is part of a new seven-part documentary series that tells the story of the global movement to end apartheid. The screening and related activites celebrating Nelson Mandela Day come at a particular relevant time as the United States District Court for Southern District of New York considers a crucial decision about the liability of companies for apartheid era crimes.

The Bottom Line tells the dramatic story of people around the world who refused to let business with apartheid South Africa go on as usual and shows how international grassroots economic boycotts against Polaroid, Shell, Barclay’s, General Motors and others doing business in South Africa helped bring one of the world’s most brutally repressive governments to its knees. “A clear and rousing study of how economic sanctions, initiated by grassroots protests, can have a significant political effect – especially when the boards of corporations find themselves in a forced position of embarrassment” –Time Out London.

The Have You Heard from Johannesburg series is produced and directed by two-time Academy Award® nominee Connie Field, an American filmmaker whose previous work includes The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter and Freedom On My Mind. The series is the first attempt in any medium to pull together the many threads of global anti-apartheid action that formed the international movement.

With a story that spans 12 countries and three decades, the dramatic series is being broadcast around the world in 2010 and is the basis of a global campaign Field hopes will inspire audiences to think about the legacies of the movement today and help groups reflect on long-term activism and boost current social justice efforts. This global project around the Have You Heard from Johannesburg series is funded by the Ford Foundation. The organizers of the Project are working with NGOs, community-based groups, and others in the U.S., South Africa and internationally to bring these untold stories to communities around the globe.

The Center for Conflict Dialogue is one of these groups and ties this screening to the 67 minutes campaign, symbolizing the 67 years since the former president first started fighting for human rights and the abolition of apartheid. Different community groups including the Harlem Streen Corner Resources, American Friends Services Committee, Harlem Clergy and Community Leaders Coalition and student groups will go into selected places and streets in Harlem and do community service earlier in the day, before the documentary screening. The participating groups will gather at the State Building to participate in making symbolic hand imprints, which
is emblematic of Mandela’s commitment to positively impact people for generations. The event calls upon each of us to give 67 minutes of our time to help others, rooted in the idea that, like Mandela, each individual has the ability to make an imprint and change the world around them for the better.

The Mission of the New York Center For Conflict Dialogue is to facilitate and coordinate platforms on which thematic areas of dialogue are addressed with a view to educating the communities and resolve conflict.

About Me

Read engineering and economics at Cambridge ... qualified as a Chartered Accountant ... professional and corporate management working on management information and metrics of performance. International assignments as CFO and then as consultant to World Bank and UN agencies in connection with development projects and emergency situations. Work on planning at the national, area, sector and community level. Appalled at the current state of financial reporting in the corporate world and the metrics that drive major decisions in both the corporate and political sphere! The development of Community Analytics (CA) is a response to the need for better metrics than merely money accounting ... the concept of value should be treated with equal rigor and sophistication!